What seems to be the general opinion about visual problems causing learning difficulties? These are not the 20/20 type vision problems but more about perception difficulties. These vision problems don’t show up on routine eye exams. My 10-year-old son has almost every symptom of these vision problems and has been tested repeatedly without anyone coming up with a reason for his problems with comprehension, reading, spelling, writing, attention (was diagnosed with ADD and mood disorder) and basic schoolwork in general. His evaluations have all been normal with some lows in reading. Everyone is puzzled. He’s above average IQ and struggling. What tests during evaluations would have highlighted a visual perception type problem? Would any of the routine testings turned this up? He is going to a vision specialist next week. He’s finally been given an IEP. He started in third grade with headaches in school and now in fifth grade is having severe migranes that start at school. He’s not stressed about his work but I think the reading work is actually stressing him. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
Re: Visual problems & learning difficulties
My daughter has visual processing problems, i.e., couldn’t copy from board, headaches, tracking problems, writing porrly spaced and not on line, etc. She went to an OT who specializes in sensory integration.
She has improved dramatically. She has limited board copying on her IEP and will need a notetaker and/or copy of teacher’s notes when she gets to middle school.
I agree with Helen. Research this and make sure you are getting to the right specialist. You can spend a lot of money remediating LD’s.
Re: Visual problems & learning difficulties
For visual perception there’s the TVPS. The school can do this test. But if his probelms are visual processing they may not show up on a visual perceptual test.
Good luck to you!
Re: Visual problems & learning difficulties
My child had moderate to severe sensory integration deficit. He has done 3 years of OT and would benefit from more probably. We have stopped for now with private OT and are pursuing OT provided by the school basically for the handwriting issues.
I want to check into Interactive Metronome for him privately. Any opinions on this move?
Re: Visual problems & learning difficulties
There are lots of posts on IM on this board. You should do a search.
My son’s endurance with handwriting improved a lot doing IM. He used to tire out after a couple sentence. Now he is able to keep up with classroom work.
Beth
Re: Visual problems & learning difficulties
My son has been doing IM and it has helped him to improve in several areas. I think it is especially helpful if your child has sensory integration issues that affect attention, motor control etc.
We still have a few more sessions to go. He has improved so much with it that I have decided to continue the program beyond the regular sessions. He has not gotten his timing to the desired rate with the regular sessions. He started out pretty bad 250ms with almost no consistency.
One little thing that happened today. He said, “Mom, I don’t need help with my homework.”
I have seen about 100 of these little things that all add up to a very big change.
Go to Sue Jone’s site below and look at the vision and vision therapy links. You need to make sure your going to the correct specialist.
http://www.resourceroom.net/Surfin/index3.asp
Helen